British jets and drones to operate in Syrian skies, David Cameron says
In September the UK Parliament authorized airstrikes in Iraq, but not Syria. The prime minister's workaround involves surveillance aircraft that will not use weapons.
In September the UK Parliament authorized airstrikes in Iraq, but not Syria. The prime minister's workaround involves surveillance aircraft that will not use weapons.
British military drones and spy planes will begin carrying out surveillance missions over Syria, Britain鈥檚 defense secretary said Tuesday, deepening the UK鈥檚 roll in the fight against the self-described Islamic State.
In a letter to Parliament, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon assured lawmakers that the aircraft 鈥渁re not authorized to use weapons,鈥� a step that would require further permission, the BBC reports.
Mr. Fallon said the unmanned Royal Air Force Reaper drones and Rivet Joint spy planes would start operations 鈥渧ery shortly.鈥� He said both aircrafts 鈥渨ill be authorized to fly surveillance missions over Syria to gather intelligence as part of our efforts to protect our national security from the terrorist threat emanating from there.鈥�
The British Parliament voted in September to approve airstrikes against IS forces in Iraq. But a lack of parliamentary support has stopped Prime Minister David Cameron from authorizing similar action in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Cameron didn鈥檛 seek parliamentary approval for the planned surveillance operations. An unnamed deputy official spokeswoman told the Guardian that Parliament had not been consulted prior to the announcement because such operations didn鈥檛 amount to military action.
The spokeswoman repeated the prime minister's promise to consult Parliament before authorizing military action in Syria when pressed by the Guardian on whether the surveillance missions were a step in that direction.聽
鈥淭his is about looking at the nature of the conflict, looking at the nature of the assets we have, and thinking: how can we best deploy those to support our efforts to protect the UK and keep British people safe?鈥� she said.
Last year, Parliament delivered an embarrassing blow to Cameron when it rejected his request to join in airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad鈥檚 forces.
The Independent, a London-based newspaper, reports that 鈥渢he decision to fly over Syrian territory is certain to lead to charges of 鈥榤ission creep鈥� and opposition in some quarters of Parliament.鈥�
The surveillance missions will make Britain the first Western country aside from the United States to conduct operations against IS in Syria. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, and Qatar have all contributed aircraft to US-led missions there, including airstrikes.